Human Rights Act 10 Years On
The 10th anniversary of the Human Rights Act (HRA) coming into force in the UK is 2 October 2010. The HRA incorporates the European Convention on Human Rights into UK law.
In Scotland the HRA has been an important pillar of the constitutional framework of devolution. Under the Scotland Act 1998 (which established the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Government) there is a duty of both to comply with the Human Rights Act and through it the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
Professor Alan Miller recently gave thispresentation to the Legal Services Agency Major Conference about the anniversary.
The new UK coalition government is to examine the future of the HRA and the SHRC and the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission recently signed a joint statement in support of retaining and building upon the Act. The Scottish Human Rights Commission believes that in Scotland this can best be done through the development of a National Action Plan for Human Rights for Scotland.
Read our contribution to Common Sense, a publication by Liberty, which includes contributions on the HRA from Shami Chakrabarti, Francesca Klug, and Helena Kennedy QC.
Later this year, on 4 November 2010, it is the 60th anniversary of the signing in Rome of the European Convention on Human Rights. You can read more about the anniversary on the Council of Europe website.